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Kumo-nin have been sent out to deal with some pirates that enjoy stealing from the honest merchants that trade in the Land of Lightning.

Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.

"Assisting Naval Forces"

Land of Lightning

Kumogakure and the Land of Lightning was not known for it, but they did have one. A naval force, that is. And it is with them that shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Clouds will work with, as there have been multiple attacks upon incoming merchant ships recently. Nothing that would prevent their return to the main shore, since the pirates themselves were not strong, but there was always something among the cargo that went missing after an attack, and it definitely costs money to fix the boats. Money that is more likely to go to Konohagakure since ships are made of wood and the Land of Fire is made primarily of trees…
Nozomi and Jurou have been sent out. The former for more experience in different conditions, the latter due to his heritage. They would find themselves on the docks preparing to head out come dawn. The captain who was running the ship, who tended to go by the nickname 'Mo', told them that if the sky was clear at dawn, they could head out. All that was needed was time to prepare for the short journey.

So just Jurou and a girl not much younger than himself are sent out on this one. Shouldn't be too difficult a mission then, at least by design. Standing on the deck of the ship, the Hizumu peers around with his arms folded over his chest while he waits for the ship to take off as well as to be sure his teammate for the mission is here and ready. He seems pretty relaxed about it, despite the fact that this could very well be just the two of them against a small army of pirates. Perhaps he's confident, or perhaps he just chooses to worry about that bridge when they cross it.

Given the conditions in which she wast told she'd be operating in, Nozomi opted for the hunter's outfit of her village, though it is still colored in various shades of blue. She wears a light jacket, waterproofed with a special formula, over a loose shirt. A pair of slacks, made of similar material, covers her legs, and her flute is securely fastened into a sash that runs from her right shoulder to her left hip. She approaches the ship, calls out a greeting and request to board, and then boards once permission is given. A brief conversation with a crew member then sees her heading toward Jurou. "Hello, I am Yamayuki Nozomi," she says pleasantly enough, though this is likely the largest ship she's ever been on.

As his teammate arrives, Jurou turns to her and smiles, introducing himself in return, "Hizumu Jurou. Nice to meet you." He looks around for a moment before waving for her to follow as he moves over closer to the cabin to take a seat on one of the crates beside it while they wait to move. "So it's just us on this one, looks like. It shouldn't be too difficult. If there are too many of them, we'll just have to use tactics that aren't quite nice like sinking their ships first instead of going right after them. When they're too occupied with surviving, fighting won't be much of an issue anymore."

Nozomi follows Jurou to the crates, then hops up on one, only to almost slide off of it before catching herself. "I'm not sure how much assistance I'll be in sinking ships, as my primary weapons are sound based, and not especially powerful. Of course, anyone caught in the water may wind up in deep trouble if my sound weapons prove deadly enough, but I'm not advanced enough to work against wood or metal yet," she explains. "And I'm afraid my weak point is taijutsu. Still, whatever you think I need to do, I'll do th the best of my abilities."

As the pair start to plan, the ship begins to move. Slowly at first, the wind only just catching its sails while engines begin roaring to life. "Steady as she goes, boys!" Mo calls out from the helm, the man directing the ship in a northwesterly direction. They had marked their ship down as a merchant ship so that it might be targeted, having many goods on its decks to draw the pirates out. Not too many as to arise suspicion, of course, but a lot. One of the crew knocks a few times on the shinobi's door, saying "We're just moving out. Remember that it may be a while before there's any action, since we don't really know when the pirates show up, if they do at all."

"Well, I can handle that part with my own jutsu," Jurou says with a slight grin before standing and saying, "We should get some rest while we can. If there's more than one ship, this is going to be hard work." He then stands and turns to move into the cabin, holding the door open for her to come in as well before he plops down in a chair and brings his hands behind his head. "So, Nozomi, how long have you been a Genin?" That thought process is briefly interrupted by a speaking crewman, to whom Jurou looks back toward the door to respond, "Got it. We'll be ready when the time comes."

Nozomi nods as she follows Jurou inside, then takes a seat. Before she can reply the crew member announces himself, causing her to nod in his direction in agreement with Jurou. Once that is handled, she turns her attention back to Jurou's question and answers, "Officially I've been a Genin for a little over a year. But soon after I graduated I had to return to my village for a while, and I just started active duty about a month or so ago. My missions have been rather eclectic, though I did my best to be useful in each case."

The ship continues on its journey, giving Nozomi and Jurou ample time to sit and chat. Occasionally, the crew members would alert them to an incoming ship, though all so far were harmless and likely not going to attack. Each one they passed was another shipfull of merchants traveling one way or another. In fact, the trip itself could be considered extremely boring because of this. There's really no way around that, though… Not until they find the pirates or the pirates find them.

With each ship that passes by, Jurou would move out to help check each one, along with Nozomi if she comes. Thus far nothing exciting has happened, which is a relief, but also a bit boring. Still, as long as their vessel makes it to their destination, their mission would be considered accomplished. "Well, this is kind of a drag, but I guess a drag is better than being shipwrecked."

Nozomi is slighlty caught by surprise by the arrows, but she quickly starts to sing, while forming a few simple handsigns. This causes most of the arrows to miss her, but one manages to scratch her despite her sound defense. She quickly pats out the small smouldering patch on her arm before returning fire with her own jutsu. Rather than pull the flute out, her singing increases in volume as she attempts to follow the path of the arrows, first with a sharp high note, then by forming another few hand seals to form an invisible sword of sound which she then launches in the direction that the arrow that hit her comes from.

Following the paths of the arrows is apparently a very smart thing to do. A large 'BOOM' rings out when Jurou's lasers hit the enemy ship, and a small fire appears in the distance. Ah, there it is… Shouting starts to reach their ears, too, as it seems it was a form of jutsu that was hiding the ship. The sounds are garbled, from being so far away, but it's easy enough to realize that they're setting up for an attack. Bullets of water start to barrage the ship, springing holes in the sides if they are successful. If someone is hit, it could be very painful…

"Guard up, kiddo. Looks like they've got shinobi with them," Jurou says as he takes a step and spins into a corkscrew off the side of the ship and avoids each bullet of water as he charges toward the direction of the burning ship on top of the water. As he runs, he brings his hands into a seal, sending off another set of beams with a few thrusts of his hands to destroy whatever he can without being able to see what's actual there yet.

Nozomi sighs and thinks to herself that Jurou has a strong gift for stating the obvious, especially when water bullets are heading her way. She continues to sing, using her own musical voice to generate a wave to send the bullets careening away. She follows this up by her newest skill, one that is designed to temporarily disable someone, then following that up with another sword. The combination should, by her reckoning, cause some kind of interferance in either their ability to remain "cloaked" or their ability to attack.

Shields of water spring up, but the pirates aren't masters of ninjutsu or anything like that. The ship ends up barraged by sound waves and laser beams, the total destruction of the enemy ship exceeding that of the ship the Kumo-nin are currently using. "RETREAT!!" comes a loud voice. "RETREAAAATTT!!" The pirate ships groans as it starts into action, but it's hard to get it to move quickly since they were anchored down…

"Retreat to the grave, bellybuttons," Jurou's voice rings out as he continues to move forward toward the ship they're destroying. While letting them retreat would be an easy thing, allowing them the chance to regroup and come back is not something he plans on doing. Thus he fires off another pair of beams, aiming to blast any part of the ship that's not already beaten to pieces and blazing.

Nozomi sings, "You can't swim with no equilibrium." Her voice grows louder still as she generates another sound blast, this one aimed for the apparent person in charge. She then goes into a rather difficult piece of song as she forms not one, but two swords. The first she sends toward the man she just blasted, the second for whoever relayed that order. Cut the head off of any animal, and the body dies.

The attacks are all SUPER EFFECTIVE, especially when the two shinobi can actually see. A few of the pirates actually run into the attacks, which … is probably very lame of them… But regardless, it's successful. The ship is a complete mess thanks to Jurou, the blasts from the Hizumu starting its sinking process and even speeding it along. Down down down go the pirates.

With the pirates down and with pretty much no hope for survival since their vessel is destroyed, Jurou turns and runs back to the ship. Once there, he makes a quick leap back onto the deck and calls over to the captain, "Get moving. We'll guard to make sure none of them try to climb on board."

Nozomi continues to watch and cover for Jurou as he makes his way back to the ship. Her song continues to allow her maximum reaction time in case someone actually gets organized enough to get froggy. Otherwise, she lets them drown. Her village came under water-born attack often enough for her to have no sympathy for them.

"Yes, sir!" salutes one man, the crewmember relaying the request to the captain. The ship begins to groan, not liking the fact that it has to move after the attacks. But it was built well and strong, and it starts to move towards the sinking pirate ship. It circles around, but none of the pirates seem to be in lifeboats. … There were no life boats to speak of, actually, as most of them were on fire and still burning.